SEC QB Controversy Thermometer

What does Jarrett Stidham need to work on before his first start at Auburn?

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Gus Malzahn had repeatedly referred to Jarrett Stidham as a "gym rat" that's always in the film room and trying to perfect his understanding of the game and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey's offense.

As optimistic as Auburn's fifth-year coach is about the physical abilities of the program's newest starting quarterback, he also emphasized Stidham's lack of playing experience after nearly 21 months without playing in a colelge football game.

"I think we've also got to keep in mind that (Stidham)'s still an inexperienced guy," Malzahn said Monday night. "I mean he still has some things that he's gonna have to go out on the field and play more and get use to things. He's really impressed coach Lindsey and myself and his teammates."

Stidham remains self-critical and is working on "a lot of things" in order to best understand the offense before the season opener against Georgia Southern on Sept. 2.

The challenge will be much greater against defending national champion Clemson on Sept. 9 and in week-to-week grind of the SEC.

"There's going to be some learning processes that you can only do in the course of games," Malzahn said. "There's not one area I can sit here and say, 'He needs to improve on this.' I think it's more of just the big-picture area of the experience when you go out and you fine-tune your whole game."

Stidham can readily recall the last time he was on the field, Nov. 21, 2015.

Freshman Myles Brennan has emerged, along with returning starter Danny Etling, in this quarterback race, and a decision on a starter is expected next week, coach Ed Orgeron said on Saturday.

The two players attempted 20-plus passes during the Tigers final scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday, both taking the majority of the first-string snaps and pulling away from others two weeks before the Sept. 2 opener against BYU.

“Haven’t named a starter yet,” Orgeron said following the scrimmage. “We don’t know that yet. We’re very close. I believe that’s going to happen next week. Big discussion with staff about it (Sunday).”

Etling completed 13 of 22 passes for 168 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Brennan, the decorated rookie from the Mississippi Coast, went 10-for-20 for 122 yards, a touchdown and interception. Freshman Lowell Narcisse was 0-for-2 and scored on a rushing touchdown.

A&M's quarterbacks, with the receivers busy elsewhere during a recent practice, ran some of the most painstaking - putting it charitably - routes ever witnessed on the Coolidge practice fields.

In the midst of quarterback-to-quarterback passing to loosen up for the real thing and with no defender in sight, senior Jake Hubenak laboriously hustled along the right sideline before one of his mates opted for another wide-open quarterback impersonating a receiver. (Hint: They were all wide-open.)

"I would have scored on that one," Hubenak muttered with a chuckle before heading to the huddle.

Confidence, whether passing or receiving or rock-paper-scissoring, isn't a problem among A&M's three quarterbacks contending for the starting gig, with the opener at UCLA two weeks away. Pegging a clear-cut starter among Hubenak, redshirt freshman Nick Starkel and true freshman Kellen Mond is a more protracted task, especially when another job is riding on it.

On the depth chart released Wednesday morning, there was an “or” between junior Quinten Dormady and redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano. At Jones’ weekly news conference just after noon, he said he wanted the quarterbacks competing all the way up through pregame warmups on Monday.

He wasn’t willing to give away anything on the weekly radio call-in show Vol Calls on Wednesday evening, either.

“We don’t really need to name anyone,” Jones said. “Why would we, right now at this point in time?”

In previous seasons at Tennessee, Jones has been much quicker to eliminate doubt on the identity of his starter.

ATHENS — If you’ve been following the storybook career of Jake Fromm, what happened Saturday night at Sanford Stadium will come as no surprise.

Of course he got thrown into action 8 1/2 minutes into his college football career. And of course he came through with flying colors. It’s what Jake Fromm does. It’s what he was born to do.

“He did exactly what I thought Jake Fromm would do,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said following the Bulldogs 31-10 win over Appalachian State. “There’s not been a moment that was too big for Jake Fromm since he was a little kid. He’s always been that way.”

Indeed he has. Fromm was slugging home runs over the wall as a 12-year-old to help lead Warner Robins to the Little League World Series. Then he was zipping the ball around all over the yard at Houston County High School until he finished 116 touchdowns and 12,817 yards passing, 260 yards short of Deshaun Watson’s Georgia high school record.

So having to run into the scoreless game with little to no warmup, then leading his team’s offense to the tune of 300 yards and 31 unanswered points seemed almost like old hat to pride to the big kid with the Hollywood good looks.

The only downside of this whole scenario Saturday is it came at the expense of Jacob Eason. The Bulldogs’ incumbent starter injured his left knee on an out-of-bounds shove with 6:30 remaining in the first quarter.

If Eason had never gotten hurt, it’s very possible, even probable, that he would have gone on to play well, led Georgia to a comfortable win, and anybody judging him on his first three passes and two fruitless drives would have been laughed out of Sanford Stadium.

But Eason did get hurt. So as we go into the great unknown of the next few days, weeks and months, we are left to dissect those first nine minutes of the game, and whether they reinforce red flags about Eason from last year, or whether we’re just being silly.

Eason’s first pass was in a three-wide set, and Eason went rather quickly to Jackson Harris for a negligible gain. Nick Chubb was actually alone on the left side, but Eason never looked at him. It may not have gained much more than the quick pass to Harris, but Eason didn’t even look his way.

The second pass, the overthrow of Isaac Nauta on third down, appeared to be a case of rushing his throw under pressure. Right guard Dyshon Sims couldn’t stop a linebacker who had blitzed off a stunt, and Eason threw off the wrong foot.

Eason didn’t attempt a pass on the second series, scrambling for no gain on third down. It looked like coverage was good, but Eason also appeared to misjudge where he should run, scrambling left when there was more room right. There were times last year Eason created a chance by scrambling to give his receivers time to get open. That time he didn’t.

Eason’s third pass, the overthrow to Javon Wims, was just one of those simple passes that Eason sailed on last year. It was why his completion percentage was only 55 percent. It was why the coaches emphasized improving that in the offseason. And it was why when the next guy came in, things changed.JAKE FROMM’S FIRST IMPRESSION

Fromm’s immediate effect was just accuracy. He hit Nauta in the numbers, then Hardman in the hands on an out pattern, and that’s why the offense started clicking. As Kirby Smart pointed out afterwards, it’s not like they put in a different tempo package.

The first really good run of the day also happened when Fromm came in, a 10-yard cut to the outside by Sony Michel. That was mainly just better blocking, but credit to Fromm for running the play correctly, something you can’t take for granted from a true freshman suddenly thrust into action.

Fromm’s most impressive pass of the night was the 25-yard strike down the middle to Javon Wims late in the first quarter. Fromm stood strong in the pocket and just hit Wims perfectly.

After the first touchdown drive, the camera caught Kirby Smart grabbing Fromm by the jersey and pushing him into the receiver’s huddle. Almost a message: “Hey, you’re the starter now, get with your guys.”

In the rush to anoint Fromm, a couple plays to remember: On his first drive, he overthrew Michael Chigbu near the sideline, but if he had thrown it better it would’ve been an interception. Fromm didn’t check the coverage before he threw the pass, and didn’t see the cornerback was right there.

The scoring drive that Fromm probably had the least to do with was the one that ended with his touchdown pass: The 34-yard TD to Wims was his only completion of the drive, and Fromm shouldn’t have thrown it. It was into triple coverage, and Wims saved the play with the leap-and-snatch. It was the play of the game, I’d say.

Fromm got clocked on the play, so he deserves credit for his toughness. Hard to tell a guy after the fact if he should’ve done something other than throw it, but he did get lucky on that one.

In fact, Fromm got lucky again on the next drive. He rushed a pass again and heaved the ball to the right side for Terry Godwin, who would have been wide open had the throw been delivered on time and on target. But there was a pass interference call, which set up another touchdown run.

Sometimes lucky is part of someone’s aura. Sometimes it’s just luck.A KEY POINT ON FROMM-EASON

Many people’s takeaway was the offense moved not just better but quicker with Fromm. Well, there was a reason for that.

When Eason was in the game, Georgia averaged 24 seconds between plays, by my count. (Not counting first downs.).

The tempo did immediately pick up on the drive Fromm entered, but mainly because of completions. The time between plays after completions averaged 11 seconds on that drive. But there were also two incompletions on that drive, and the next play then took 25 and 32 seconds, respectively.

The next few drives with Fromm in there mirrored that. A good play tended to lead to a quick play, while an incompletion led to the team regrouping and taking longer to get the next play in.

The point: Georgia’s tempo only seemed faster with Fromm because he was completing passes. But Fromm was completing those passes, leading to that quick tempo, while Eason was not.

GEORGIA’S OFFENSE IN GENERAL

Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney kept it simple, especially after the Jacob Eason injury. Eason did operate out of the shotgun, and there were some diverse sets, but nothing elaborate in the play-calling. That’s definitely understandable, given the opponent. You have to imagine that if the game was uncomfortably close in the second half that you might have seen something more interesting.

You also have to imagine that some deep strikes were planned for Eason. Then he left, and the play script probably shrunk about 50 percent with Fromm.

So what to think of Chaney’s play-calling this year? Well, let’s wait a week.

“He always seems to find a way to win it,” Reed said. “I just think he’s got it in him. That’s what I think. It’s just that ‘it’ factor.”

Fromm may not be as tall as Jacob Eason, and wasn’t as heralded a recruit. But with Eason’s knee injury in Georgia’s season opener, Fromm is now the starter for at least a few weeks. That means a starting debut at Notre Dame, at night, on national television.

There are few around the team who seem to think Fromm can’t handle it.

“If you guys knew how well this guy prepares, as a student of the game, even in the summertime in seven-on-seven,” senior linebacker Davin Bellamy said. “The guy is the real deal.”

Ever since Fromm’s impressive debut Saturday against Appalachian State, when he sparked the offense to 31 points off the bench, more than a few Georgia fans have opined that their team will actually be better off with Fromm at the helm. Cooler heads will counter that it’s way too early to say that.

Fromm’s own teammates, while not discounting Eason, sure sound confident in the new guy, who they praise for his intangibles, including his very vocal leadership.

“He’s very talkative, but it’s all meaningful words out there,” Wims said. “He’s a field general. A true field general. At first I was shocked how fast he picked it up as a freshman, but now that he’s been doing it so long I’m not shocked at all.”

Introducing the QB Ladder (aka “QBL,” aka “Cube-uhl,” aka “Q-Bladder” to the haters), a new college quarterback formula and ranking system that tosses out the archaic NCAA “Passer Rating” and accounts for a number of previously ignored factors (Rushing yards! Strength of opponent! Duh!).

This is not a ranking of the “best” quarterback with the tightest spiral or the quickest decision-making ability or the fastest 40 time. It’s about “greatness,” that all-important factor that — until now — was unquantifiable.

These numbers can and should be compared against quarterbacks from different eras, and SEC Country plans to do so as the season goes on.

Stoops offered a lengthy defense of former starter and current backup quarterback Drew Barker during the coach’s Monday news conference.

While Stephen Johnson completed 15 of 22 passes for 224 yards, rushed for 48 yards, produced two touchdowns and no turnovers on Saturday — while guiding Kentucky to a closer-than-expected victory over Eastern Kentucky — Barker completed 1 of 2 passes for 5 yards and presided over a pair of possessions that ended in quick punts during a brief relief appearance.

“I’m very happy that we inserted him into that game in the situation that we did, under some pressure,” Stoops said. “You have to get those quality reps. His play, I have to defend him just like I defend Stephen. It’s a lot of people around him. You don’t need to go in there and get a penalty on a screen pass and get a holding penalty on the first [possession for Barker]. And then protection issues. Give him some options on third down.”

On Barker’s first play since Week 3 of last season, Barker completed a 7-yard pass that was wiped out by a holding call. He was sacked on third-and-8. His second and final possession at the helm started with a false start, then a 2-yard run by freshman A.J. Rose, then a 5-yard completion. Again, he was sacked on third-and-8.

“There’s not many quarterbacks that are very effective on third-and-long when you’re not getting great, great protection,” Stoops said. “We have a guy [Rose] that hasn’t played college football yet and has a run that couldn’t possibly be set up any better — and we miss it. We bounced it outside instead of hitting it up inside or it’s a huge gain. We get in third-and-long again and the same back — that’s gonna be fine, who hadn’t played yet — gets completely blown up on a blitz. We get no time to throw the ball.”

While White started 16 games since 2015, including 10 last season, the Boca Raton, Fla., native has not seen the field this year. He lost out on the starting job to Jarrett Stidham during fall camp before serving his suspension against Georgia Southern and Clemson. He was available and in uniform against Mercer, but did not see the field during Auburn's 24-10 win.

With White no longer part of the team, what does it mean for Auburn's plans at quarterback moving forward?

Stidham is Auburn's man this season, and is likely to maintain that status for as long as he is enrolled at Auburn. The redshirt sophomore, who is coming off the second-most efficient passing performance in SEC history, has two more years of eligibility after this season, so White's departure doesn't have much of an impact in that regard.

Where White's dismissal does have an immediate impact is behind Stidham on the depth chart, where freshman Malik Willis has been elevated to the role of backup quarterback.

Auburn entered the season with considerable depth at the position, as the team had a highly touted starter and an experienced backup who led the SEC in completion percentage in 2016 and helped spur a six-game win streak last season that had Auburn in the College Football Playoff discussion before White's shoulder injury contributed to the derailment of the offense late in the season. The Tigers will now have to turn to a true freshman in the event Stidham is injured or misses time for any other reason.

Florida staged another late-game comeback against Kentucky on Saturday night, overcoming a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter to win 28-27.

Quarterback Luke Del Rio had a lot to do with that after a shaky start from redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks. Del Rio came in, and things didn't get off to a great start.

His first series ended in an interception when he threw down the seam with a safety waiting right in the area his throw was intended to split.

Coach Jim McElwain explained the decision after the game.

"Well, we just felt we needed a jump-start a little bit," McElwain said. "And Feleipe didn't do anything wrong."

That might be a bit of a stretch, as the offense wasn't very good with Franks at the helm.

There were multiple miscommunications, like Franks and a running back being on the wrong page on a handoff on the first play of the second half. Or Franks nearly throwing a couple of interceptions into traffic.

Despite Del Rio's hiccup to start the game, Florida finally took over and was able to ride the run game with better communication from the quarterback position.

"I think we hopefully gained a little confidence up front," McElwain said. "I was proud of the last drive that we didn't go to thinking we had to throw it every down."

Del Rio also made arguably the play of the game on a 4th and 3 on the game-winning drive. He rolled to his right with two receivers heading that way, but both were extremely well covered. Before the pressure could get to him, Del Rio turned across his body and threw back to the middle toward running back Mark Thompson, who secured the catch and 10 yards for the pivotal first down.

The redshirt junior quarterback went on to cap the drive with a five-yard touchdown pass to an uncovered Freddie Swain to give Florida the lead with 43 seconds remaining.

So did Del Rio do enough to win the starting job moving forward? Or at least merit that consideration?

To be determined.

Will be a fan favorite after several 3rd and long and 4th down conversions on those last two scoring drives.

BATON ROUGE, La. — When “what the heck was that?” is a valid question for the second consecutive week, odds are things are not going so well for your football program. And they are not going well for LSU, which is creeping dangerously close to becoming a sideshow in Ed Orgeron’s first year as the Tigers’ full-time coach.

At least this week the question did not pertain to LSU’s lackluster performance, although the Tigers were far from impressive in a 35-26 escape against Syracuse that wasn’t in the bag until an unlikely third-down conversion from No. 3 running back Nick Brossette on his only carry of the game late in the fourth quarter.

If the question in LSU’s 37-7 loss last week at Mississippi State was “How?” this week it evolved to “Why?” as Orgeron unexpectedly pulled starting quarterback Danny Etling in favor of freshman Myles Brennan with a 21-10 lead early in the third quarter.

Etling was not hurt. Etling was not ineffective. Far from it. His penultimate pass before getting yanked was a 55-yard bullet that receiver Drake Davis turned into an 87-yard touchdown.

Prior to the season-opener against BYU, Orgeron cited injury and ineffectiveness as the only reasons Brennan would play.

“There’s two ways he can get on the field,” Orgeron said with a grin back in those lighthearted days.

That archaic, run-heavy attack left Tiger Stadium partially full, an offense devoid of the fireworks that the rest of college football was launching. The old-fashioned, I-formation scheme was partially behind the sweeping changes administrators made last season.

The Tigers turned back to that offense this past week, reverting to the trusty scheme that helped lead the program to rousing wins over top-flight teams.

How did it work out?

“That wasn’t working,” tight end Foster Moreau said.

Troy delivered a blow to Ed Orgeron’s early tenure as LSU’s head coach on Saturday night, beating the Tigers 24-21 at Tiger Stadium.

The game itself painted a nasty picture alone. The offense did not convert a third down (it had eight tries) in a game for the first time in three years. Two different players lost fumbles, and each quarterback threw an interception.

The postgame scene, in many ways, spoke to a deeper issue.

Dysfunction and disconnect appear to be growing on that side of the ball, potentially between the head coach and his offensive coordinator. In his postgame comments, Orgeron twice mentioned the play calling.

“We’ve got to call better plays,” Orgeron said at one point...

LSU isn’t just shuffling its quarterbacks. The Tigers are shuffling offenses, and five games into the season, they’re still searching for an identity – something in which the now-defunct system of Les Miles never had a problem.

LSU has failed to crack 175 yards rushing in three straight games for the first time since 2012. Even the program’s age-old rock – a physically overpowering running attack – seems to be withering away and at the worst time.

The only on-the-record comment came from former LSU defensive lineman and ESPN analyst Booger McFarland.

“My biggest fear when they hired Matt Canada was LSU getting soft, and it’s happening before our eyes,” McFarland told the site. “They’re not physical on the line of scrimmage. It’s a byproduct of the offense, which goes side-to-side. They’ve lost the ability to go north-south and be physical.”

The coach called the rotation between freshman Myles Brennan and senior Danny Etling “a difficult deal right now.”

“We can’t move the ball, missing some key plays with Danny in there,” he said. “Giving Myles a chance. It’s not his fault. Doesn’t have the experience.”

Nothing seems to be working – the insertion of a new quarterback or that simplifying of a motion-filled offense.

“Back to the drawing board,” Orgeron said.

Some players took the blame Saturday night, especially receivers and Etling. They expressed “frustration” with themselves in a passing offense that’s averaging 216 yards a game (77th nationally)...

Vols’ junior Quinten Dormady has started each of the first five games and is the more experienced of the two quarterbacks, but he has been taken out in each of the past two games with the offensive sputtering.

“Everything points towards the quarterback, he has to take care of the football, but I think it’s also a by-product to everyone around them as well,” Jones said. “We’re not running the quarterback, we’re letting him see the field in the (shot) gun, and we’re running a pro-style type offense, so I do think we’re fitting his style.”

Guarantano, who completed 6 of 7 passes in relief of Dormady, brings the threat of the run to the offense as a dual-threat quarterback.

A move to Guarantano would signal a change in Tennessee’s offensive philosophy —

Jones has pulled starting quarterback Quinten Dormady out of the last two games looking for a spark, and CBS analyst Gary Danielson suggests it could be time for a new starter.

“I really do think if you’re Butch Jones now, you’re just forced to try to go a couple two or three games with the next quarterback,” Danielson said during his broadcast of Georgia’s 41-0 win against Tennessee.

“You’ve tried it, this was a highly recruited player, [Jarrett] Guarantano was; he’s struggled; he really hasn’t earned the starting job, but sometimes you just get it and you’ve got to go.”

Danielson, who played quarterback in the NFL for 13 years, also said he talked with Vols offensive coordinator Larry Scott in the days leading up to Tennessee’s loss to Georgia.

“As Larry Scott told us,” Danielson said, “[Guarantano] has been humbled a bit and had his best week of preparation.”

Dormady has certainly been dealt a tough hand, from the time the team’s 2016 leading receiver, junior Josh Malone, elected to go pro.

Injuries on the offensive line piled up in fall drills, limiting the Vols’ scrimmage opportunities, and then go-to receiver Jauan Jennings was lost for the season with a wrist injury.

ATHENS — Jacob Eason had a good practice on Tuesday, according to his coach.

But that’s not Georgia’s starting quarterback anymore, at least until Jake Fromm gets injured or struggles. It’s a remarkable change in a relatively short amount of time for the once-hyped recruit who started 12 games as a freshman and entered the season as the entrenched starter.

So how is Eason handling it?

“I think he’s doing a great job,” coach Kirby Smart said after practice Tuesday. “He’s very mature, he’s handling things the right way.”

Smart has never come out and proclaimed that Fromm is the new starter, and that may be due to Eason not quite being 100 percent, following his left knee injury. But Fromm’s play has made the point moot to many observers, so through no fault of his own Eason appears to have — at least temporarily —

Quinten Dormady waited two years behind Josh Dobbs before becoming the Vols starting quarterback for the first five games this season.

A change on the depth chart isn’t going to chase off Dormady — at least not yet — as the 6-foot-4, 222-pound Texan was back at practice Tuesday afternoon.

Tennessee elevated redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano to the top of the depth chart this week, and it appears the New Jersey product is in line to make his first career start Saturday against South Carolina.

Just two days after saying Austin Allen was "a couple of weeks away" from returning from a shoulder injury, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema now believes there's a possibility his starting quarterback could play against Auburn.

"Austin Allen continues to make really good strides," Bielema said Wednesday.

Whether Bielema's remarks are true or a bit of gamesmanship in a series that's seen plenty of it over the last five years won't be known until Saturday night. No. 21 Auburn (5-2, 3-1 SEC) is preparing for both possibilities though.

"I think you have to," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "Austin's a very tough guy and I'm sure he definitely wants to play in this game. So yes, we have to be prepared for both and we are preparing for both."

Tua Tagovailoa lamented the interception he threw in the third quarter of Alabama's 45-7 rout of Tennessee.

The errant pass directed toward Calvin Ridley as Tagovailoa was met by an oncoming rusher was instead snagged by Volunteers linebacker Daniel Bituli, who raced 97 yards to the end zone to score Tennessee's only touchdown.

Following the mishap, Tagovailoa retreated to the sideline with an air of contrition.

"You probably don't know Tua very well, but he says thank you and apologizes for everything and he was apologizing for that," Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

Repentant by not deterred, Tagovailoa made amends. The Hawaiian southpaw completed five of his next seven pass attempts for 106 yards and a touchdown -- a 60-yard strike to Henry Ruggs III after he hung back in the pocket and surveyed his options.

That throw was delivered after he scored on a 23-yard dash -- sprinting through a wide canal between Tennessee defenders before launching himself over the goal line and into the end zone.

Week after week he plugged Franks in as the Gators’ starting QB and week after week the limited production and field vision issues remained the same.

“We’ve got some competition at quarterback,” Shannon said. “A lot of guys want to know what we’re doing at quarterback. My theory and my thoughts are you compete every day at practice. Defensively you compete every day, offensively you compete every day. When guys have competition, it tends to bring the best out of everybody. We’re going to adjust those guys on what they’re doing in practice and how they compete, how to get the offense going, how to get the offense moving.”